The present invention is related to a method for browsing and replaying a selected picture by a multimedia player, and more particularly to a method for browsing and replaying a selected picture by a multimedia player with a bookmark function.
At the present time, a general VCD player has a special function of recording a picture in advance for being browsed or replayed. The function of the VCD player is named as bookmark and the recorded picture is called as a bookmark spot. When a user is watching a program, he can randomly set a bookmark spot as a starting point for being browsed or replayed. Then, he can select any one of the bookmark spots which he has set to be browsed or replayed by a VCD player.
The operation process of a general bookmark function includes the steps of:
1. Under a play mode, the user can turn it to a bookmark mode and the program will still be played at the same time;
2. When the program shows a picture which the user wants to mark, the user can press a memory key to memory the tune parameter of the bookmark spot in the VCD player; and
3. End the bookmark mode and return to the play mode.
The operation process of replaying a bookmark spot includes the steps of:
1. A browse-and-replay mode is selected under a stop mode, and then a list of bookmark numbers with corresponding time parameters will be shown on the display for a user to select; and
2. Operate the controlling interface such as a remote controller or a keyboard and press the number key of the controlling interface corresponding to the bookmark numbers to replay the selected picture.
The general way of showing a list of bookmark numbers with corresponding time parameters on the display is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, there are three bookmark spots which have been recorded marked with bookmark numbers 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The other bookmark numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 have not been marked with any bookmark spot.
It is very inconvenient to replay a bookmark spot by the way of showing the time parameters to be selected, because too many sets of the time parameters will easily make the user confused. Moreover, the time parameters are not associated with the selected pictures so that the user can not easily remember the time parameters corresponding to the pictures which he wants to replay. The object of the present invention is to provide a method for improving the defects encountered by the prior arts and make selecting a bookmark spot to be replayed easier and simpler.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for browsing and replaying a selected picture by a multimedia player. A display is provided for showing the pictures of the program and a controlling interface is provided for controlling the multimedia player. When the program shows a picture which the user wants to mark, the user can bookmark the picture as a bookmark spot by using the bookmark function of the multimedia player. Thereafter, when the user wants to replay the selected picture, the multimedia player will show a plurality of subpictures corresponding to a plurality of fullscale pictures containing the selected picture on the display for the user to select. The user can select by the controlling interface one of the subpictures corresponding to the selected picture to be replayed, and then the selected picture will be shown on the display. By the method of the present invention, the user can easily distinguish the bookmark spots with corresponding subpictures instead of the bookmark spots with corresponding time parameters, and can correctly select a picture to replay.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the controlling interface is a remote controller or a keyboard. The storage device is a video compact disc (VCD) title, super video compact disc (SVCD) title, a china video disc (CVD) title or a digital versatile disc (DVD) title. The image data is a motion picture expert group (MPEG) image data.
Among these steps, the step of showing the subpictures on the display further includes steps of picking up an image data from a storage device, decompressing the image data to generate a fullscale image, converting the fullscale image to one of the subpictures, and showing the one subpicture on the display. Moreover, the step of showing one subpicture on the display further includes a step of marking the subpicture with a bookmark number by way of on screen display (OSD), wherein each of the subpictures is represented by the corresponding bookmark number. The bookmark number is provided for selecting one subpicture by the controlling interface. The maximum number of the subpictures contained in one page on the display is n. There is a second page for selecting the one subpicture by pageup/pagedown when a count of the subpictures is more than n.
The step of showing the selected picture on the display further includes steps of picking up an image data from a storage device according to a selected bookmark number, decompressing the image data, and scanning the decompressing data to show the selected picture on the display.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia player adapted to be used to browse and replay a selected picture. The multimedia player includes a display, a pickup header for picking tip an image data corresponding to the selected picture from a storage device, a servo connected to the pickup header for moving the pickup header to pick up the image data, a decoder electrically connected to the pickup header for decompressing the image data to generate a fullscale image, a zoom processor electrically connected to the decoder for converting the fullscale image to a subpicture, an image overlapping device electrically connected to the zoom processor for showing a plurality of the subpictures on the display, and a controlling interface for selecting one of the plurality of the subpictures corresponding to the selected picture to show the selected picture on the display. The decoder is a MPEG decoder.
The multimedia player further includes a memory electrically connected to the image overlapping device and decoder for recording a plurality of small-scale images, corresponding to the plurality of the subpictures, obtained from the image overlapping device in a first instance, and recording the fullscale image, corresponding to the selected picture, obtained from the decoder in a second instance.
The multimedia player further includes a video scanner electrically connected to the memory for converting the plurality of small-scale images to the plurality of the subpictures to be shown on the display in the first instance, and converting the fullscale image to the selected picture to be shown on the display in the second instance. The multimedia player further includes an on screen display controller for marking the plurality of the subpictures with a plurality of bookmark numbers respectively by way of on screen display.
The present invention may best be understood through the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: